By Bonnie Vanak
I’m Bonnie Vanak and I write for Harlequin’s Romantic Suspense line. A typical day for me begins with heading to the coffee pot, trying not to trip over our two senior rescue dogs. Coffee makes for a happy writing life!
Since I left my full-time day job and my husband retired earlier this year, our lifestyle has changed. No more 4 a.m. wake-up calls, or thankfully, worrying about him getting called to the hospital during a hurricane warning or another emergency.
This year we decided to embark on a new adventure and spend the summer in Michigan instead of Florida. Now my mornings consist of filling the bird feeders and making sure the hummingbirds have fresh sugar water.
It’s true. When you retire, you bird watch!
I’m most productive in the afternoon, so after lunch, I’ll write. My writing companion is our younger Shih Tzu, Bella, usually dozing beneath the desk. My routine includes research. For Desperate Justice, my current release about Rafe, a sexy FBI supervisor hunting a drug dealer, and Allison, the bike-riding trauma nurse who joins him, I relied on a good friend who is a nurse practitioner. Since Rafe and Allison ride Harleys, I also spent time at a bike rally and chatting with a longtime friend who is a biker.
I’ll research everything from discovering how to make Cuban food (Rafe is Cuban American) or the best points in a body to stab someone. Fortunately, law enforcement has yet to show up at my door over my bizarre search history.
When I was working at the day job, co-workers once inquired, “What are you doing for lunch?” I replied, “I’m going home to research how to slowly poison someone.”
Funny. They never asked me to lunch after that.
I work off a desktop personal computer, but I have a laptop and an alpha smart for traveling. Long ago, I trained myself to write scenes out of order for maximum use of free time. I’ll do this during the day if hubs and I are out exploring the area. The alpha smart is a terrific writing tool for jotting down setting notes or writing entire scenes.
This writing technique became essential to meeting deadlines while working full-time in addition to writing books. Traveling internationally for the day job, I learned to write in brief spurts in hotel rooms. Probably the oddest place I’ve ever written a scene was in Haiti. Sitting on a balcony, I saw the president of Haiti arrive to party at the hotel disco. This inspired a scene in Navy Seal Seduction, my first romantic suspense book for Harlequin.
For me, no matter what I write, the happy ending is critical. When I feel emotional as I finish writing a book, I know I’ve given you a good story in which love conquers all. Even without coffee!
Bonnie Vanak’s latest Romantic Suspense, Desperate Justice, is available now!
His work is all that matters, but one woman could change all that.
Rafael Rodriguez is determined to get his man. Especially after he narrowly escapes death on the hunt for drug kingpin Hector Hernandez. But as the FBI special agent inches closer to his prey, he didn’t bargain on Allison Lexington. After infiltrating the Devil’s Patrol, his onetime confidential informant’s now on the straight and narrow. With her sister set to marry Hector’s nephew, Allison topples headfirst into danger. Then her sister vanishes and the motorcycle-riding trauma nurse might be the one who needs saving. And Rafe’s just the one to do it…
